Worldviews and ‘reality’ in the Palestinian-Israeli ‘conflict

Abstract

In this thesis I critically engage with the language of the Palestinian-Israeli ‘conflict’ and, drawing from Corpus Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), explore how language is used to construct different realities and perspectives. For the quantitative (CL) analysis, I use two 19,000 word corpora of articles, of which one represents pro-Israeli views, and the other pro-Palestinian views. Through these datasets I explore the views and polemic projected by each group to understand their key concerns, and unravel their mindsets and worldviews. For the more qualitative analysis, I draw from CDA to deconstruct the ‘reality’ portrayed by the group I choose to view as the ‘oppressor’ – for, characteristically, CDA “intervenes on the side of dominated and oppressed groups and against dominating groups” (Fairclough and Wodak 1997:259). In doing so, I seek to make explicit some of the “linguistic devices used to code […] beliefs and ideologies as well as the related practices” against the chosen ‘oppressed’ (Reisigl and Wodak 2001:266). For this qualitative analysis I primarily focus on a single article from the aforementioned (specifically-built) corpora, although other articles are used for comparing and contrasting purposes. In both types of analyses, the main focus is on worldviews and their effects on a solution to the conflict. I conclude by considering the usefulness of the findings of this paper in terms of resolving the ‘conflict’. I also reflect briefly on the strategy of partnering qualitative analysis with quantitative analysis.